Unsettling Interest
by DarkMist-FallenFog
Summary: This was not something he wanted to admit, but maybe it was something Vilgax needed to recognize.


**Disclaimer: I do not own the Ben 10 series or any character copyrighted by Cartoon Network and its associates. Nor do I agree with the musings of the character this story is based on. Continue.**

* * *

><p>Vilgax would admit that his increasing…<em>interest<em> in the Tennyson boy was not exactly what one would call healthy. The child was ten, and while it was not too far off from a mature age on Vilgaxia, on Earth Ben Tennyson was basically still a baby. He acted babyish, too, on occasion. Vilgax had seen the little tantrums that erupted when the brunette did not get his way. He saw how the boy teased and competed with his cousin for no reason at all when they should have been compromising. And the warlord saw that slight jutting of the lower lip, eyes quivering just so, when Ben was desperate enough to become at least five in order to obtain something he desired. It could have all been very cute.

That was the problem.

Vilgax had no place in thinking that anything about the young one was cute. He had no place thinking about him at all, really. Ben Tennyson may have been a serious threat to his conquest of the universe, and he may have been annoying on the best of days, but, as stated before, he was a **child**.

If Vilgax so chose, he could leave Earth alone until Ben was nothing more than mere dust in his grave, leaving the Omnitrix all but his for the taking. It would have been a lot easier to wait for the inevitable. After all, compared to his race, humans didn't live that long. 100 years at the most and by them they were senile and unprepared for confrontation. That would have been better than battling the little Tennyson in his prime. And it certainly would have been smarter to leave well enough alone until the time was right.

But he did no such thing.

Vilgax kept coming back, time and time again, seemingly prepared, but in reality pushing his luck, and challenging the small Tennyson over and over again. He knew on several occasions that he was going to lose. He tempted his luck when he wasn't at full strength by testing the boy with threats to his family and friends. He pushed the envelope well past its limits by teasing the boy with his supposed lack of strength, only to get a taste of what said boy really had in him moments later. Any good warlord would have cut their losses long ago.

Yet Vilgax remained.

To an outsider he would seem far too interested for an ounce of decent comfort. He was so fixated on the brunette that it barely seemed as though he had time for anything else anymore. Which, when thought of quite carefully, was untrue. He had an empire at his beck and call. He had a universe with plenty of more areas that needed to be conquered. He even had other arch enemies that he needed to eradicate, now that he thought about it. Ben Tennyson was just usually brought back to the forefront of his mind at the drop of a dime.

Which, now that he put some proper thought into it, was really concerning.

He had never spent this much time and energy into any other adversary. He had never even remembered any of his first conquests half as vividly as he did the encounters with Ben Tennyson. Not even Max Tennyson, the man who was admittedly much more experienced in how he did things, much more likely to pose an absolute immediate problem, and one of the warlord's earlier adversaries. But no, Vilgax had to find some kind of odd fascination with the little grandson who was **ten years old**. Any way you looked at the situation, it all screamed something of a very wrong and twisted nature.

Most would call it obsession. Vilgax supposed that was what it was. An obsession. Ben was an obsession. Something that haunted Vilgax's thoughts so entirely and completely that there was no room for anything else.

It should have been something that greatly aggravated the warlord, but it only served to somehow please him. How one so young could accomplish something so great was something that could probably never be explained, but it was certainly something commendable all the same. Ben was not like other humans. He was not like any other creature Vilgax had ever encountered before. Maybe that was why the interest, the obsession, was so strong. How could you not pay attention to something you could not explain, something you could not conquer, something you could never replicate?

No, Ben was certainly one of a kind. He was merely a boy at this point, but it was already clear that he would grow to be great. His future was brighter than any sun, and his strong will would ensure that it burned for at least a legendary eternity. Granted, that time was still a long ways off. Ben had to grow, learn, prosper, and figure out how to adapt. He also had to gain better control of the Omnitrix, lest someone not worthy of him take it from right under his nose.

Yes, Ben still had a long way to go, but until then,

"You're going down Vilgax!" Familiar green eyes narrowed as they caught sight of their nemesis. Such an innocent and justified hatred they held. "And this time you won't be coming back up!"

The warlord could not help but smirk. The confidence Ben radiated was amazing. "I look forward to it."

With Vilgax's special brand of tutelage, Ben would rise above the ranks in no time. Soon the world would know him as something more than a hero, something greater than a legend. Ben would soon come to be something worthy of his arch enemy's long term obsession. Or something more, even, when he got to be old enough.

Only time would tell.

* * *

><p><strong>Before the torches and pitchforks arrive, I should clarify that this is an initial reaction to seeing the original Ben 10 series after a few years had already gone by, and over analyzing it to a new degree, and not a serious thinking process of my own mind. But seriously, am I the only one who saw the constant Vilgax presence as a tad bit creepy? *silence* I guess so. <strong>


End file.
